Embodiments of the present invention relate to coatings sprayers and, in various more particular aspects, to paint sprayers. A typical paint sprayer includes a handheld spray gun with a spring-loaded trigger that is actuated by 2 or 3 fingers. The trigger selectively opens a valve to spray pressurized paint through a nozzle. In order to facilitate access to “overhead” spray targets, some manufactures produce and market elongated spray guns. An elongated spray gun includes, for example, a handheld trigger body from which extends an elongated rigid paint conduit with longitudinally opposed proximate and distal conduit ends. The distal end of the conduit includes a nozzled tip through which paint is ejected when the user squeezes the trigger near the proximate end of the conduit.
A second type of painting product, referred to for purposes of description as a “triggered extension pole,” includes a rigid pole with proximate and distal ends. The distal end of the pole includes mechanisms for selectively retaining a spray gun originally designed to be held in a user's hand, while the proximate end of the pole includes a trigger that, when actuated, actuates a linkage connected to a mechanism(s) that pulls on the trigger of the handheld sprayer, thereby facilitating remote (e.g., overhead) actuation of the handheld sprayer.
Each of the known apparatus described above is accompanied by advantages and disadvantages. For example, unless a user of an elongated sprayer has two separate paint-supply lines (e.g., hoses)—one for a handheld sprayer and the other for the elongated sprayer—he or she must depressurize the paint supply line in order to change from one sprayer to the other. Depressurizing and switching sprayers is inconvenient, messy and, worse, may result in discontinuity in the appearance of the painted surface. A triggered extension pole obviates the depressurization issue because a user can alternatively insert into and remove from the retaining mechanisms at the distal end of the pole a handheld spray gun. However, depending on the length of the pole, the angle of spray, and the distance between the user and the targeted surface, the use of a triggered extension pole can be awkward and tiresome, facts that can fatigue the user and impact the quality of work.
Accordingly, a need exists for paint spraying apparatus that provide the balance and ease of use of an elongated spray gun, while obviating the inconvenience and mess associated with depressurizing a paint supply line and switching spray guns during the course of a single painting project.